81 Responses

Let’s go to the girls class C. In Power Rankings #3 Middleburgh wasn’t even in the top 10. Now you have them 6th. What did they do to warrant that spot? Lake George at #4 playing D schools. The top three are right, but the rest is a mess. Out of the top ten teams you have listed. How many have you seen play? Just curious

I have seen Waterford and played Hoosic Valley and Greenwich. I do not do these rankings off my own input solely. I look at common opponent, records, head-to-head, league strength and I talk to coaches. That’s all it isn’t scientific but I do try and give it thought. My suggestion would be to rank your list in a comment. That’s what the blog is for, to have open conversation about teams.

Eric, on the boys side in Class B, based on your rankings criteria mentioned, don’t you think the Colonial is a stronger division than the Wasaren, especially since 5 teams in your top 7 are in the Colonial vs only 1 out of top 10 from the Wasaren? With same record and similar result against 1 common opponent, Voorheesville should be #1 after beating Cohoes, and Hoosick should be somewhere in the mix, but probably behind Cohoes.

Agree with most of your points and rankings. Only thing, move Troy to #1, Scotia to #2, and Academy to #3. Troy has two high major d1 guards and Scotia has one low major. Academy has no one on their roster with any legitimate offers yet. Id say Troy would beat academy, especially since they lost to Guilderland and collegiate (lost to Lutheran in the city by 20, further proving my point that academy traps friendly games in their gym that the other teams could care less about)

As for the girls, if Albany will be without their players I would say lets go ahead and factor that in. Highly doubt Hoosick Valley would beat maple hill.

AllDay: Scotia crushed Ludden in October in my event and believe me they have the goods to be in the top spot over Academy. I’d not overlook them. Troy is not quite there with the leaders yet. Class B boys is going to be a war. Class C girls, Hoosic Valley handled Maple hill on the road already. Wasaren is proving its the premier mid major league this season. Battle tested and stronger than Patroon, Foothills and Colonial thus far this year. Sectionals will prove this.

Its funny beccause Long Island Lutheran actually hasn’t played the Collegiate School that beat Albany Academy. They beat Brooklyn Collegiate which is a completely different team. This is almost as funny as saying Troy has 2 High Major guards when there isn’t a single high major prospect on a varsity team in this area.

@Eric – You should know better than basing your picks on informal October scrimmages. Ludden is the same team as last year with a better inside presence [They beat Scotia in the state tournament]. I don’t really care where you put Scotia/Academy, but have a serious rational if you are going to post one,

All I can do is simply laugh at what you said because I just saw over the weekend here that Troy got their asses handed to them 79-63 by a Newburgh team that Scotia beat 79-65. If you take those scores and do the math, Scotia had a result against a common opponent that was 30 POINTS BETTER…and you want to make Troy #1 over Scotia…How cute.

Personally I think Academy has been extremely impressive this year. I’d actually put them on top of S-G in the Power Rankings until the end of the season unless Academy drops at least 2 of their remaining games.

I didn’t base my pick solely on a scrimmage. I’m saying I’ve seen the talent on display: This event featured Shen vs. Ludden also. Excellent competition and a chance to see their personnel and their potential. Scotia would crush Ludden in my opinion. I believe that. Also the Tartans have consistently played great. They’re undefeated first of all and Academy isn’t. You have to beat who’s on your schedule. This argument is tired. Academy is playing GREAT basketball but Scotia has not lost, has incredible chemistry, a bona fide star and let’s be honest, they would not lose to Guilderland. Scotia is clearly 1 and AA is right behind.

Great point. I witnessed Scotia first hand dismantle ludden. Sometimes when theirs talent envolved people forget that sports at the high school level is a team game, unless you have a top 25 player in the country, any night a well coached great program can beat another team. I agree, although it was in October, Scotia has done all they can to prove their worth. They cannot pick and choose where and when they play people, which as a former coach, believe me makes a huge difference. Scotia also has the best staff in the area in Jimmer and Sausville. Academy has some nice wins but at this point I think everyone would like to see them in a conference. Its hard to take all the randomn games seriously. Interesting point, will Green Tech be open next year? I keep hearing things about that school closing or being shut down. Has anyone heard anything?

Also, look out for CBA this year. They are still a very capable team. I love the way Catholic High plays, but their defensive style could come back to haunt them in sectionals. Depending on the reffing, they could either blow teams out or if the refs call many handchecks, they could lose from foul trouble. Shall be interesting to watch that’s for sure. Love the blog eric thanks for the input and the platform for us life time fans to voice our opinions!

Hoosick Falls has not been tested like the Coloniaol teams. It think Voorheesville and Cohoes beat them easily in a championship or semfinal game. They are stepping up in class this year and it will show in month. The Colonial will put Ravena, Voorheesville, Schalmont, Watervliet, Cohoes, Mechanicville, and possibly Ichabod Crane into the qtrs this year. At least 6 will make it. HF will struggle to beat any of these teams in that matchup. The Colonial Council is balances and these teams are all battle tested and built for a sectional run. HF is nice story, but the reality will set in soon enough.

Sorry..computer messed up on 13..Eric, love to be able to post my thoughts and have rational conversations with other hoop junkies in the area..Most really have great things to say but some really don’t have a clue..not saying I’m right or wrong, this is about everyone’s opinions, there isn’t a right or wrong.. Love passionate guys like Andrew and others who back their programs with some facts..What is Tired is guys who post lies and innuendo without facts.. If you are a top team in the area you better believe your team is No. 1 …there are more than a handful of teams in the area who can beat one another on any given night, that’s how close they are in talent..I respect YOUR opinions but finding hard to understand how you can post that Scotia would crush Ludden and Guilderland…They might very well beat them, but not sure about crushing..they CRUSH SGF and the other down schools in the Foothills, but can’t see them CRUSHING Ludden when they both have the same teams from last year when Ludden won..my other thought is you obviously are not like the AP or cCoaches polls in college sports who do rate teams on strength of schedule…many undefeated teams are ranked below 1 or even 2 loss teams because they simply play lesser opponents …Please believe I’m not bashing Scotia, love the team and rooting for their kids to get a state championship but the more you’re tested the more chance to lose..I’ll end my rambling by saying I’m not sure Scotia is clearly number 1 solely based on their records…I might put them as 1 and 1A until the end of the year???

Firstly, Troy, with their performance is def not top 3 class a team, their guards are clearly not high d1 prospects, they dont really play well as a team. However, I really like one of their forwards #21, a warrior, doesnt run his mouth is physical, plays d and rebounds. The rest of the team should look to his example. There is a lot of talent on that team.

Academy impressed. Very good team. All things being equal I would have to rank them #1……

I totally agree with “NoSoFast” – good story with Hoosick Falls but who have they played that matches the caliber of teams in the Colonial Council? Lake George!! Good team but I guess I would have to see how they too would do in the Colonial Council…

First time I’ve been on this year but have enjoyed reading everyone’s opinions. I think John Kane may be on to something with his Class C boys picks. While I think he has Lake George too low I think he’s on the money having Wftd. in the middle of the pack. They lost their first game of the year by 3 points in O.T. to Duanesburgh and a week later lost again to Duanesburgh by 2 points. They are a young team (start 4 underclassmen) and were hit with many injuries the first part of the year. They recently avenged one of their losses when they gave Germantown their firstn loss of the year. They are growing as a team, playing great defense, playing hard, and will avenge their only other loss this Fri. at home against Berlin. If they win out and finish 14 – 4 how can they not be in the top 5 or 6?

Do you consider this a legit ranking? Don’t talk about how good Guilderland is and then go ahead and say Scotia would “crush” them. No knock to scotia, but come on, that’s laughable. And your touting academy’s two losses which is fair but what do you want them to do to make up for it? Beat the pre season #1 ranked class AA team? Oh wait they did (LUHI). Beat the (former) number #1 ranked class A team? Oh wait they did. Beat Green Tech? Oh they did that too. Win in their national showcase game? They did that do. I normally don’t back AA because they won’t play in our sectionals but after watching them yesterday they are not only the best team in Class A but they are the best team in the entire section and we need to appreciate the way they are playing.

B’s should be incredibly tough this year. Probably 8 teams that could win it. Having said that, what have Watervliet and Ravena done to be ranked so high. Conversely, B-P only has 1 loss in the last month plus and that is to Scotia whom they played closer than anyone in the Foothills all year. Additionally their early losses were all to quality teams when they were missing 2 key players to injury. They are definitely the sleeper to me. Top 4 are interchangeable but I have:
1. Voorheesville
2. Mekeel
3. Cohoes
4. Hoosick Falls
5. Broadalbin-Perth
6. Mechanicville
7. Johnstown
8. Watervliet
9. Ravena
10. Schalmont

Troy has tow HIGH MAJOR (Duke, NC, Kansas) guards on their team huh? Then what is the kid from Newburgh (#2) that killed them yesterday? LOTTERY? LOL Holt is a MAAC player and Radz is a St. Rose kid….book it.

Academy is very well coached, and has multiple senior weapons. Their PG (#10)is exceptional, and the two wings (#20 and 33) shot the ball really well against Green Tech. Jerome might be the best athlete in the area, and the Jackson kid (6’9″ 280) is a load inside. If they’re not the best “A” team in the area, I’m want to see who is.

Green Tech needs to check that G’Town mentality at the door. Hood Jr. and a few others refused to shake hands with the AA players after the National Anthem when most of the kids met at halfcourt in a nice smortsmanship gesture. Hood always plays with a chip on his shoulder like he’s some sort of victim? I don’t get it. Glad he didn’t choose to attend Siena.

Eric, sounds like there is some acknowledgement for the Colonial in the B’s. If you used your own criteria, you would calculate strength of schedule as favoring the Colonial teams. HF does have a few nice wins, but over 50% of their opponents do not appear in the top 10 for B’s OR C’s. What else do you have to justify your position?

@alldayeveryday..you need to know a little bit more about basketball before you start blogging such nonsense..Troy has no D1 guards, you don’t need to have D1 players to be good, whatever led you to believe that? The name of the game is team, it certainly helps to have high caliber players, but you said Academy, which by the way, has college coaches in the hallway after every game, doesn’t have a D1 player…But yet could be in some peoples eyes the best or one of the best teams..the teams that come to play in Academy’s friendly gym are teams they played at in their gym last year and won there also..they play home and home.. So the whole blog you wrote is nonsende!!!